The Central Criminal Court in Dublin was told yesterday that staff at Jack White's Inn, who normally were paid in cash, were handed a cheque when Mrs Catherine Nevin paid their wages for the St Patrick's bank holiday weekend when her husband was shot dead.
A bar worker said Mrs Nevin gave her a cheque, saying there was not enough cash on the premises.
The jury has heard that an estimated £16,550 in cash was taken by the raiders, who shot Tom Nevin in the chest as he counted the pub takings in the kitchen in the early hours of March 19th, 1996.
The prosecution alleges that the murder was a contract killing made to look like a botched robbery.
The evidence from former staff at the inn came on the eighth day of the trial of Mrs Nevin (48), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her husband Tom at their home in Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. She has also denied counts of soliciting three men to murder her husband on dates in and around 1989 and 1990.
The jury and Ms Justice Mella Carroll at the Central Criminal Court heard of "discontent" in the Nevins' relationship and they heard that Tom Nevin was hospitalised for a few hours in July 1995 after falling and hitting his head while "very drunk".
A former staff member said that at the time Mrs Nevin told her there were two ways her husband would kill himself: either through drink-driving or through resisting robbers if there was a break-in.
In direct evidence, Garda Martin Kavanagh, of Arklow station, told prosecution lawyer Mr Peter Charleton SC that he responded to a call at 7.20 a.m. on July 10th, 1995, and went to Jack White's Inn, where Mrs Nevin told him she had found her husband lying on the floor of the lounge with a cut to his head.
"Tom Nevin wasn't in the lounge on my arrival. He had locked himself in the toilets and refused to come out," Garda Kavanagh said. Eventually, Mr Nevin was persuaded to come out and a doctor treated the cut on his head. He was removed to hospital until around midday that day.
Mr Nevin was "very drunk" when he saw him, the witness said. After the ambulance left, Mrs Nevin said her husband had the habit of drinking after closing time in the pub.
A former head waitress at the inn, Ms Una Dooge, told Mr Charleton that Mrs Nevin appeared "very disturbed and agitated and upset" when Ms Dooge came upon the scene that morning, with Tom lying on the floor, unconscious. Mrs Nevin said she thought there was a break-in and Tom had been hit, Ms Dooge said.
"There are two ways in which Tom Nevin will kill himself," Mrs Nevin told her. The first was that he would have drink taken and kill himself in a car crash. The second was if someone broke in and he was drunk, he would "put up a struggle".
Ms Dooge said she knew Tom Nevin to be "quite a reserved and gentle person" who respected staff who worked hard for him.
Asked about Mr and Mrs Nevins' relationship, she said that from what she saw "there was an amount of discontent in the relationship but it appeared to be one-sided." She said: "Tom was quite a reserved man and if Catherine was arguing with him, Tom would have rarely answered back."
Two sisters, Ms Deirdre and Ms Fiona Lawlor, of Tullow, Co Carlow, gave evidence that they had worked at the inn on the St Patrick's bank holiday weekend, staying overnight until Monday evening, when they left for home. Both described Mr Nevin as "very nice". Ms Deirdre Lawlor said he was "really supportive" of her.
Ms Fiona Lawlor said Tom and Catherine Nevin's relationship "was more like a business relationship than a marriage".